Re: Please help with iab problem

On 06/22/2010 08:23 AM, Jeremy wrote:
>
>
> On Jun 21, 10:53 pm, aleCodd <33faceb...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Jeremy Conlin-2 wrote:
>>
>>> I have defined an abbreviation as:
>>
>>> :iab bi Bible
>>
>>> This works fine when I type <space>ib<space> but doesn't work when ib
>>> is preceded by a parenthesis or any other character.  How can I create
>>> an abbreviation that will work regardless of what precedes it?
>>
>> as long as the character before the left-hand-side(lhs) is not a keyword,
>> there sould NOT be a problem.
>> please check the output for the following command:
>>         :echo &iskeyword
>
> The result of doing this command seems to change depending on where I
> am in the file.  I get one of two responses:
> @,48-57,192-255,:
> or
> !_~,^*,^|,^",192-255
>
> I don't understand what either of those mean, but maybe it has
> significance to you.
>
>> the other thing you may want to notice is that if the lhs is only one
>> character (for example: iab q Quran) it will work ONLY after a space or a
>> tab or -otherwise, when you want still the abbreviation after any character-
>> you would have to exit insert mode (i.e. <esc>), and then start insert mode
>> again BEFORE you type the lhs.
>> see :help :ab. (map.txt, look from line 847).
>
> Thanks for pointing me to that part of the help section.  After
> reading, I realized that the problem is not what comes before I enter
> the abbreviation, but what is already after it.  For example, I will
> often (but not always) open and close a parenthesis, then move inside
> it to execute my abbreviation.  I believe Vim doesn't expand the
> abbreviation because there is a close parenthesis immediately after
> the abbreviation.  If I close the abbreviation with a <CR> instead of
> a space, then it works, but I get an extra <CR> which is not wanted
> either.  Any idea how to get around this?
>
> Jeremy
>

You probably want :imap. imaps will execute without space and no matter
what's in front or after. See :help imap. However imap will not show up
in the file until you finish typing all of it. It also will lead to a
delay after you type leading letters as you're typing some other word.
Usually you want to precede it by some char you don't type often, e.g.
imap ^b bible.

   -ak

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